firefighterian Posted November 9, 2009 Report Share Posted November 9, 2009 The title says it all, how do i tie skirts onto my jigs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Maxwell Posted November 9, 2009 Report Share Posted November 9, 2009 (edited) FF, Are you talking Living Rubber, Silicone, Lumaflex, premade, make your own, etc. etc.???? No matter really, it all works the same. I tie mine on with Rod winding nylon, usually size D. First slide the complete skirt, with rubber collar in place, on to the spinnerbait, buzzbait, whatever. Next, place wire coming out of nose in fly tying vise, vicegrips. etc. Using a broken rubber band wrap the front part of the skirt to the head of the bait. Start wrapping thread just in front of collar. as soon as you get it tightly started slide the rubber collar to the bend of the hook. This should leave the tying area unobstructed so you can finish wrapping the thread tightly fastening the skirt on the lure. Finish with a few half hitches and cover with nail polish or head cement, then remove collar and rubber band. TA DA!!!! Hope you can visualize better than I explain. Edited November 9, 2009 by Tony Maxwell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smalljaw Posted November 9, 2009 Report Share Posted November 9, 2009 I don't tie my skirts anymore but I used to do them with 26gauge wire and it's not hard but it does require a little bit of time to get the placement right. If you're using silicone tabs then this will help you, take a length of wire, enough to make 2 wraps and then a small twist and using a diagonal cutters cut off the excess,I would use a 3" piece as it was easy to work with. Take your wire and bend it in a "u" shape around your collar then set it aside and get your skirt material ready, position the material where you want it and then hold it there with one hand and with the other hand place the "u" shaped piece of wire under the collar and sort of pinch it closed so it holds the skirt material in place but you still have the 2 ends sticking out. Once you get to that point the rest is easy, take the ends of the wire in each hand and pull or wrap tightly around the collar twice and then meet the ends in the middle, pull tight and twist the wire so that the twist is tight against the collar and then snip off or even break off the excess, I hope this helps as its harder to explain than it is to do. The hardest part of tying skirts with wire is keeping your material in place untill you can make a wrap,but after you do a couple it becomes easy and do yourself a favor and get a fly vise, it'll make it that much easier, if you don't want to use a vise you can use rubber skirt collars and put the skirt on with those first and then wire tie them and cut the bands loose afterward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmokeyJ Posted November 10, 2009 Report Share Posted November 10, 2009 Haven't gotten around to trying it myself, but I bookmarked this video on Youtube of a guy doing it. I always do better being shown rather than told: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jig Man Posted November 10, 2009 Report Share Posted November 10, 2009 The title says it all, how do i tie skirts onto my jigs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smalljaw Posted November 10, 2009 Report Share Posted November 10, 2009 Smokeyj, jig man's pic tutorial is spot on!!! The video you posted is very informative but that is a jig tying video, notice the use of thread, unless I'm wrong the poster needs help with tying skirts with wire which is very different because you can't tie hair with wire, only silicone, lumaflex, or living rubber but using thread you can tie any material but it is harder and more time consuming than using small gauge wire wraps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted November 10, 2009 Report Share Posted November 10, 2009 (edited) I use Tony Maxwell's method of using a rubber skirt band to position the skirt. Then, in my case, I tie it on with leftover braid in front of the rubber band, slide the rubber band down, and put a drop of crazy glue onto the braid, to lock it in place. You could do the same thing with wire. I'm not coordinated enough to tie it on directly like in the video. P.S. I have never had the braid fail before I lost the jig. Edited November 10, 2009 by mark poulson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmokeyJ Posted November 10, 2009 Report Share Posted November 10, 2009 Smokeyj, jig man's pic tutorial is spot on!!! The video you posted is very informative but that is a jig tying video, notice the use of thread, unless I'm wrong the poster needs help with tying skirts with wire which is very different because you can't tie hair with wire, only silicone, lumaflex, or living rubber but using thread you can tie any material but it is harder and more time consuming than using small gauge wire wraps. He uses the thread to hold the material in place and then wire wraps it. The wire wrap in the video isn't until the very end. It's just another method. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jig Man Posted November 10, 2009 Report Share Posted November 10, 2009 I have been wire tying different skirts to baits longer than most of you have been alive. I have been using the windings on an old table saw motor for 15 years and have thousands more to do. It will work on anything I have ever used except for craft hair and bucktail. It isn't as easy as the rubber bands but won't rot or rust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macstackleman Posted November 12, 2009 Report Share Posted November 12, 2009 To add to everyone's idea's, i use the wire like described then use aircraft pliers to twist the wire and snip the extra off. Help's speed up process. Love the site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
